Day 23 – Rudder problems

23 Mar, 07 – 21.30    
18.4745N,28.4640W

24 hr progress: 25.5 Nautical Miles
Distance to Antigua (Straight line): 1882 Nautical Miles
The winds has started to pick up a bit, reaching around 25 knots. The rudder continues to be a problem.
I spent most of the day trying to lash the rudder together with rope, tightening the cable that leads from the rudder to the foot steering and adding additional tiller lines.
I've been steering a course of 270-300 degrees across waves, trying to make progress westwards instead of south west. I suspect this may be the reason for the additional stress on the rudder.
If I was trying to flood the cabin on purpose, I would have been inclined to say that my timing was impeccable. Every time I open the rear hatch to reach out to the rudder, a huge wave comes crashing thru. Its impossible to see this coming, until the very last minute, which in turn is only when I get my head out of the hatch. But as time goes by I am getting better at judging the waves.
This time, I've only had 4 waves break into the cabin as I was trying to lash the rudder with rope. Not enough hours of sunlight to dry the cabin out. So looks like tonight I will be spending the night in my survival suit, as its the only dry place on board.
Expecting a squall tonight, so will see if my repairs hold in the bad weather. As soon as I finish adjusting the ropes, it feels like it's going to hold. Until a huge wave sweeps across the boat in the next hour, undoing all my work. This squall should be a good test. I need a fix good enough to last the rest of the way.
Highlight of the day: Dropping below the 1900 Nautical Mile way point. Only 1882 Nautical miles more to Antigua. ( FYI 1 Nautical mile is 1.85 Km)
To send a SMS message to my satellite phone visit http://www.bhavik.com/crossatlantic/messages.asp

lashed rudder, temporary fix

rudder cables

expecting a bit of bad weather